I have concluded that politicians these days would rather gin up the benefits of a policy decision and ignore the costs, rather than tell it to people straight. When it comes to addressing our climate change commitments, people need to know it will come with a cost. Either the taxpayer or the ratepayer in places like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia will have to pay billions of dollars over the next 30+ years. Any expert I have talked to or read, say that electricity costs will be higher - at least for some period of time until certain technologies (e.g. grid scale batteries) mature. The cost of converting oil-heated homes will be significant. The cost to migrate the transportation system off fossil fuel energy will be huge. The cost for many of our important industries to move from natural gas to hydrogen or other energy sources, well, you get the picture.
Thanks for writing this piece! The more I read, the more concerned I am about the transition to renewables. The cost of 1. building out a renewable grid, 2. ensuring there is enough battery storage, backup fossil fuel plants and/or power that can be imported and 3. the replacement of the solar/wind farms every 20-30 years is not something we should underestimate. In places like California, New York and Germany, the renewable transition does not seem to be going that well. I am increasing convinced that nuclear power is the most cost effective, stable and clean power source that we have available, especially with gen IV reactors slated to come online within the next decade or two – although the gen III reactors seem more than up for the job.
Thanks for writing this piece! The more I read, the more concerned I am about the transition to renewables. The cost of 1. building out a renewable grid, 2. ensuring there is enough battery storage, backup fossil fuel plants and/or power that can be imported and 3. the replacement of the solar/wind farms every 20-30 years is not something we should underestimate. In places like California, New York and Germany, the renewable transition does not seem to be going that well. I am increasing convinced that nuclear power is the most cost effective, stable and clean power source that we have available, especially with gen IV reactors slated to come online within the next decade or two – although the gen III reactors seem more than up for the job.